P-51 “Precious Metal” caught fire

[florida.warbirds]

From Thom Richards.

Dear Race Fans,

It’s with a heavy heart I am forced to announce the end of Precious Metal’s air racing career. She sustained heavy damage in a ground fire at a fuel stop this afternoon.

The aircraft was running fine and I was taxying out of the chocks after fueling up, a gentleman came running and signaled me to shut down. I had no idea I was on fire until he alerted me as it was under the airplane. By the time I came to a stop the flames were reaching the cockpit on the left side and I abandoned ship. There was no time to attempt fighting the fire as we feared an imminent explosion with 190 gallons of fuel onboard.

The fire department showed up after about 12 minutes and took 20 minutes to put the flames out with foam. But the damage was done. The aircraft is intact, but sustained heavy damage.

Thank you for all the support over the years, you are the best fans.

Last edited by florida.warbirds on Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Steve Nelson]

Sad news, but very grateful you're OK and no one was hurt.

SN

[Sopwith]

So sorry to hear that, such a pity.

[Sasquatch]

What a heartbreak...so glad no one was hurt, though.

[Joe Scheil]

Thom,

That you are safe is first, the plane can be re-built when the time is right...

So sorry that you and Precious Metal are out. You are an inspiration to so many.

Thanks for the memories, and please Keep us posted!

Joe

[Lynn Allen]

What a heartbreak but I do hope they go to Reno and load up on the T-shirts and stuff and I know the pits will buy them out. Maybe one of the crew will post a link so the Wixer's can do there part. I'm in for a couple of t-shirts and decals...

Lynn

[RandolphB]

What a heartbreak but I do hope they go to Reno and load up on the T-shirts and stuff and I know the pits will buy them out. Maybe one of the crew will post a link so the Wixer's can do there part. I'm in for a couple of t-shirts and decals...

Lynn

This year's tee shorts were set to arrive in Reno for the event. Usually, any shirts left over make it back to home base at Warbird Adventures and can be purchased through the website at http://www.airraceteam.com. Word still hasn't gotten back to us on if we will still have a pit space, as they cost fairly big money to rent. Valley of Speed has also had shirts. The team semi arrives to reno on Friday, along with most of the Florida crew that flies in....and then we'll have more details on what is going to happen....

....remember, Thom is currently in 1st place in the IF 1 international series, having won in Spain and Tunisia in "Hot Stuff". We've still got a race to win......!

[marine air]

Beautiful aircraft that captured our imagination. Very sad, but hope there will be a silver lining to this loss somehow. I think it would look great restored to static and hanging in the Smithsonian. It was a fantastic aircraft to watch in the air. andfor us dreamers, dream about taking around the pylons. Glad Mr. Richards is unhurt.

[Blackbirdfan]

A heart breaker indeed. Still, there is hope for it to return in the future. Dago Red caught fire at one point and returned, so there is still a chance that it will race again.

I'm in for a shirt.

Will

[RandolphB]

Just got official word that the team semi will be in the pits with all merchandise available for sale....! I hope we sell out of every single thing.....!

[Lynn Allen]

What a heartbreak but I do hope they go to Reno and load up on the T-shirts and stuff and I know the pits will buy them out. Maybe one of the crew will post a link so the Wixer's can do there part. I'm in for a couple of t-shirts and decals...

Lynn

This year's tee shorts were set to arrive in Reno for the event. Usually, any shirts left over make it back to home base at Warbird Adventures and can be purchased through the website at http://www.airraceteam.com. Word still hasn't gotten back to us on if we will still have a pit space, as they cost fairly big money to rent. Valley of Speed has also had shirts. The team semi arrives to reno on Friday, along with most of the Florida crew that flies in....and then we'll have more details on what is going to happen....

....remember, Thom is currently in 1st place in the IF 1 international series, having won in Spain and Tunisia in "Hot Stuff". We've still got a race to win......!

Thank you for the link, I just ordered 2 t-shirts, a hat and 2 decals. Hope they have the long sleeve in 2XL...

[fiftycal]

whats the big deal, he wrecked a perfectly good P-51 when he chopped it up like that anyway, hardly a "warbird"

[JohnH]

Who is this "he " ?? It's not Thom Richard. This was modified by the Whittingtons.

[flightsimer]

whats the big deal, he wrecked a perfectly good P-51 when he chopped it up like that anyway, hardly a "warbird"

I don't think it was even a full aircraft to begin with. Someone on The Facebook page said it was put together specifically for racing using bits and pieces of various 51's.

[cg51]

My dad scratch built the fuselage from spinner all the way back to the production break at the tail wheel so nothing really stock in the fuselage and if I recall wing was stock 51D that was modified during rebuild and tail was taken off Don 's H model to get the plane done for reno88 they had her flying in 9 months